hp hp hp and caw caw caw

Merry Christmas to all y'all and your mama'n them. Here in West Tennessee and Pecan Lane in specific, it is a balmy 70 degrees and the crows have taken over my yard for the end of the year.  There are plenty of pecans out there with stink bug spots but I doubt they mind that.  Tis early flu season around these parts so count your blessings if you are not afflicted.  I have heard that it's brutal.

Meanwhile, POTUS is playing golf and threatening Greenland again. And starting a war in Venezuela playing pirate games.  And the whole world is watching and waiting and getting ready for WW3.  And us?  Well we are mostly barely making ends meet and scared as shit of what is to come.  At this point, it's just damage control.  

I am slowly but surely making my way toward repair of a parastomal hernia.  Six years after I almost died from a serious colon infection I will be once again on the operating table.  I don't remember much about the last time but this go around I realize that the initial surgery that ended with a colostomy will need TLC through the years.  I could care less about a re-connection because I'm used to it but, this hernia?  It affects the fit of my bag setup so it has to be fixed.  

The Lord (and my late mother) moved me the other day to call Senator Marsha Blackburn's office regarding the Senate vote on ACA extension that never made it out of the House.  I was pleasantly surprisd that the woman who answered the phone was curious because I knew a lot about the evolution of healthcare in West Tennessee.  Why do I know?  Because I worked there for 41 years.

So I hope y'all are eating way too much and enjoying family, even drunk uncle.  Just say "bless your heart and pass the peas."  Peace on earth, good will toward men ^j^

if you see me

Please remember this...if you see me.  I cannot see your face unless I am up really close to you.  I can recognize your voice and see a silhouette of sorts but not really any features.  This is what happens when you have macular degeneration.  If I see you out and don't speak but we know each other, let me know.  I am not ignoring you I just can't  recognize you.  I thank the good Lord every day for the ability to get out of bed and live life ro the fullest.  At 70 I see the end of the tunnel!

And so, I have revised my bucket list to make it shorter.  I want to experience the beach one.more.time.  Just guide my sight impaired old self down to the water's edge and set me up with an umbrella.  I would dearly love to see our country returned to the honorable state of an ally for peace.  That's a shortening of the phrase "world peace" and we are not doing our part.  I would like to see some bands that I missed back in the day....The Eagles, The Doobie Brothers, etc.etc.  James Taylor just one more time.  I could not handle it now without a whole lot of help but I would be thrilled to raft the Ocoee River again. I have never visited my brother and his family in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.  That would be a dream come true.  Reaves will graduate from high school when I am 80.  I would seriously adore watching that happen...with honors because she is awesome.  

Life is short here on mother earth.  Not realizing that is one of the biggest mistakes I ever made.  Now I take nothing for granted.  What my daddy told me is true, in that the older you get the faster it goes.  And the more you appreciate blessings.  

Happy birthday eve eve eve to Baby Jesus ^j^

poop happens

Howdy y'all.  The title was the name of my very first blog.  The design created by my friend Tamara in Canada featured an outhouse and lots of other goodies.  Back in those days people ran blogrolls and kept up with each other on a daily basis.  Now? Not so much.  If you have followers they see the posts but nobody else does unless you share on FB.

So, anywho...I am scheduled for parastomal hernia repair in late Januray.. My surgeon ordered a barium enema repair pre-op.  That was attempted yesterday and, as Old Hoss would say "not good."  The prep was brutal enough but when radiology attempted it on a rectum that hasn't been used in six years, well.  Also not good and very painful.  Sooo all that was for nothing.   Now I will have to do the prep AGAIN and have a orocto scope.  OMG!  At least you are asleep for that.

Meanwhile, Christmas is two weeks away and I am ill prepared except for the nativity scene.  And actually, that is what it is all about.  y,all keepn the faith ^j^

4 am musings

Apparently my body has decided to sleep on newborn time.  I have been waking up way before sunrise, this morning at 3am.  Sitting on the back porch in the dark I could hear coyotes back in the fields, probably pups judging by the intensity and volume of the yips.  Nothing like in the dead of winter when they howl endlessly.  It was a subtle reminder to me that these two cats who are eating me out of house and home are in danger if they get too far away from the food bowl.  It is nature's way.  I don't keep up with hunting seasons but I think it's around deer time and close to duck time.  

The fall colors are now peaking, a bit late for us, but beautiful none the less.  The dogwood right in front of my house is dark red and catches the light just right to show off.  

Much of my psychic energy is going into transitioning into an old, visually impaired old person who depends on others.  Always very independent, that is a hard thing to handle.  Bubba said he has never seen anybody who has to go to the 'gentral every stinking day, which ain't true.  It's just anytime I have a chance to get out!  I have so much empathy now for my parents needing rides here there and yonder for the last five years of their lives.  After they died we found a shit ton of disposable razors that Daddy had stockpiled through random trips to the store.  I inherited all of my mother's photo albums which are still in a box under the steps.  Time to haul those babies out and revisit the past.  Mom was a gifted journalist who brought receipts for EVERY rat killing she was involved in.  I have several volumes of my history that she compiled.  I failed Lairen in that respect but there are many pictures of her....just not organized by date and age...lol.

As I age and lose vision, the memories  in my head are the ones that stick.  Brothers in the cotton trailer on fire.  Debbie getting thrown off our horse Dan.  And of course, the New Year's day production at Gaga's where Tommy was baby new year, complete with diaper.  You can't make this stuff up.

Y'all enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.  Usually Novemblah consists of lots of gray rainy days.  We shall see, and keep the faith ^j^

america first?

Oh boy.  Congress is back in session, at least for today.  The final signature on the discharge petition was obtained after a "newly" elected rep from Arizona was finally sworn in.  Oh wait, that will happen today perhaps.  Then they go BACK out at the whim of Mike Johnson to avoid the Epstein files.  All of this while Americans are being arrested by ICE and forced to pay additional taxes on necessities like food, clothing and other living expenses.  Meanwhile, millions of our taxpayer dollars are being spent on marble for the Lincoln bathroom and conversion of the Rose Garden to a private club.  Corporate donors will pay for the "beautiful ballroom" which would be cool except they all want something in return.  That's how the whole thing works.  

The Trump administration has showed a total lack of respect for what the American people want.  We do not want to start a war with Venezuela.  We want affordable health care and food.  We want for the focus to be on US rather than on partisan politics.  And we are being let down every time political loyalty wins over the will of the people.

Scripture tells us a lot about these kinds of false prophets and how they lead vulnerable people to do evil things, even when they know better.  At some point narcissism causes folks to lose all empathy for others. You know, like cutting healthcare to millions while buying Kristi Noem two new jets for she and BF.  And what about that true romantic Kash Patel flying his girlfriend to a wrestling match on our dime.  I could care less about who's doing who out there as long as it doesn't affect me personally.  That kind of shit definitely affects me.  Like I would ever be a guest at Club Rose Garden.  Ha!

I got confirmation via CT that I do indeed have a parastomal hernia which will require surgical repair.  That was step one.  I have begun isolating again because my gut is so unpredictable.  For the last 2 nights I have woken up with leaks and had to get up half awake to change the whole apparatus.  This morning I was up at 4am and still going.  The changes in my stoma are such that I can't really get a good seal anymore.  And that, is a problem.  Note to self:  Talk to Jay ASAP!

My dressing is in the freezer and Bubba's 22 lb turkey is thawing.  I am giving thanks for so many things, even including the hardships.  That is how we learn, though it's hard to see through the pain and darkness to understand that truth.

Y'all enjoy the last few warm days of 2025 because winter is coming ^j^

tylenol and turkey

Well, here we are in the midst of the longest government shutdown in history  According to MAGA, it is the fault of the Democrats.  Never mind that Mike Johnson has put the entire house on indefinite paid vacation to avoid seating a newly elected representative from Arizona because she will be the deciding vote on releasing the Epstein files.  Meanwhile, food assistance is being kept from millions of people when they money is readily available.  Try putting that on your Thanksgiving table... Never one to pass up a chance to blame things on the previous administrations, Trump touted that Wally world's package deal for the meal is 40 bucks.  There are fewer items in the bundle and name brand products are being replaced with great value, the store brand.  But yeah, he takes credit for what he had nothing to do with, claiming that the price is "25% lower than under Biden."  Typical Trump.  

Lauren and I have enjoyed several beautiful sunrises out here lately.  She is helping me to clean and organize this messy house, which is her forte.  We listen to podcasts together and share opinions about the state of the world and, in particuar, our country.  And RFK continues to spread dangerous imformation about health issues.  Tylenol?  Please y'a;;.  The biggest danger I have seen from this OTC med is that people who want to commit suicide will take an entire bottle and die a slow death from liver failure.  I have seen it, and it ain't pretty.  Depending on how long after ingestion the patient presents for treatment, often times the patient would say "but wait..." and by then it's too late.  

Meanwhile, we are slowly drifting toward winter with a hard freeze in the forecast.  That should help the pecans to drop.  I still talk to Patty when I'm out there picking them up.  Lord how she loved it!

I am scheduled for an abdominal and pelvic CT next week to try and figure out what's up with my gut.  The surgeon who ordered it was quite personable and I deducted right away that he is a keeper.  If it is a prolapsed stoma, that's an easy fix.  If there is a hernia too then it becomes more complicated.  We shall see what God has in store.  And always, with faith ^j^

where's the beef

I am a country girl through and through.  As a farmer's daughter I have many memories of Daddy busting his ass to raise cattle and manage crops.  The herd was small by many standards, but it was his second job (besides USDA) and it took up much of his time off from the day gig.  I loved riding around with Dadd, and later Bubba, to visit the cattle that roamed around the farm.  The fencing was ancient barbed wire and cattle don't usually like being fenced in.  He walked the fence lines daily trying to keep those moos from escaping, yet they always did.  So did the horses.  It was a very common event for me to wake up and walk outside to find some large animal or another wandering in the yard.  Usually the finao horse, appropriately named Pride, would get really pissed when we tried to get him back into the barn lot.  Poor dude froze to death one winter and got buried right behind the very barn he loved to escape.  

My point is this:  Famers work very hard and their work is heavily weather dependent, eespecially with crops.  It is risky business that you have to love to keep going back in season after season.  Their livelihood is currently threatened by several economic decisions made by the current administration that includes tariff driven losses on crops and undercutting beef farmers by bailing out Argentina and importing THEIR beef.  China does not want American soybeans.  Zero orders since the tariffs went into place.  Farmers do not want a bailout, they want a market.  And that has been destroyed.

To another point, I learned that there is a bunker under the demolished East wing of the White House which is being renovated and covered with the corporate funded big beautiful ballroom.  BTW, Hitler did the same thing in 1937..Google it.

Things look pretty grim what with a gtovernment shutdown, healthcare crisis, recession, taxation without representation ( see Arizona rep still not sworn in ), indiscrimate bombing of fishing vessels and a whole long list of other bullshit.  I believe that Americans are knee deep in the fallout from all of these capricious decisions yet we are powerless to do anything but pay higher prices and die needlessly because of partisan loyalty.  I do not blame all Republicans, but the MAGA ones are not our friends.  They are afraid to cross Trump *and Vought, et al * so they just nod and do the work of the devil.   

Y'all keep the faith ^j^